SOUTH Australia Police have recently appointed an experienced member to step into the role of officer in charge of the Limestone Coast left vacant by the retiring Superintendent Grant Moyle.
With 40 years experience at SA Police, Superintendent Phil Hoff is now the face of the Limestone Coast Police after securing the top job last month.
Moving to the region for the first time Supt Hoff is excited to build on the “outstanding” foundation Supt Moyle left behind after his two years at the helm.
“I have never been posted to a country area, but I have done a lot of work in the country, both as an investigator and doing search and rescue jobs,” Supt Hoff said.
“I need to be able to build on the great work that my predecessor Grant Moyle has done because he has established some really good relationships in the community.
“He has looked after the people who have worked for him and I need to continue to do that.”
Having worked in several branches of the police force, he said he hoped to bring that experience to the local service area.
“I have had a very varied career – I have worked in criminal investigations and also had a fair involvement in some of the strategic areas,” he said.
“Most recently I was the officer in charge of the State Intelligence Branch.”
While Supt Hoff has only been in the community for a short period, he has already made a number of preliminary observations.
“We have a magnificent community down here and there are a lot of really well-intentioned people who are quite concerned about things,” he said.
“People have great social conscience and that is a great foundation to build on.”
“We do have crime down here, but it is no more prevalent than it is elsewhere.”
One luxury Supt Hoff will have at the station is the assistance of Operations Inspector Campbell Hill, a new role in the region.
Insp Hill will support Supt Hoff in his role, acting as the second-in-charge, with a particular focus on the operations side of policing.
“Having someone as highly-qualified as Inspector Hill coming into the role is fantastic,” Supt Hoff said.
“It is an acknowledgment by Commissioner Grant Stevens the rural areas in South Australia require that support.
“This is the second largest city in the state, so to have one person on call 100pc of the time is not giving the community the service it requires.”
A white ribbon ambassador, one key area of focus for Supt Hoff surrounded the area of vulnerability amongst members of the community.
He expressed a desire to help educate the community about respectful behaviours to reduce the incidence of domestic related incidents.
“I’m very keen to work in the space of developing respectful behaviours within the community,” he said.
“My responsibility is of course to protect and provide service to people who are impacted, but I also have a responsibility to engage with the community, such as schools and various youth groups.
“That will ensure we are putting a good framework together and we can go through an evolution of developing better and more respectful relationships.”
Similarly to Supt Moyle, outside of the police station, Supt Hoff is a keen cave diver and he is looking forward to exploring the Limestone Coast’s beauty.
“I’m jumping out of my skin – what a wonderful part of the world to come to,” he said.
“There is so much natural beauty to enjoy down here and the people have just been wonderful since I moved.”
